An Evergreen Evening
by Angevon
Summary: Yosuke comes home to a Christmas surprise [P4HeroXYosuke]


[Author's notes: Written for YuNarumura for the Souyo Secret Santa 2018. The prompt was "decorating a Christmas tree."

A Yu Narukami version is available at Dreamwidth at the following address:  
angevon dot dreamwidth dot org/50728 dot html  
Every 'dot' should be a '.'

Please enjoy!]

* * *

There was a Christmas tree in the middle of the living room.

It was about three feet tall, hard to estimate since the tea table it stood on gave it added height. Yosuke stared hard at it, unable to believe his eyes, but no matter how many times he blinked, when he opened his eyes it was still there. It hadn't been there this morning, before he'd gone to work. Its very presence was so... so _festive_. He couldn't help but grin. But who... how...?

The answer walked in from another room. "Welcome home," Souji told him softly.

"What is that?" Yosuke asked, still staring at the tree.

"A Christmas tree?"

"I can see that, you dork. I mean, what's it doing here? Did you buy it?"

"Yeah," Souji said. "I thought our apartment could do with a more Christmas-y atmosphere. It is December after all."

"I love you," Yosuke blurted out then and there. "I've always wanted a Christmas tree, but it just never happened."

"Well, now you have one. You're welcome."

" _We_ have one," Yosuke corrected. "But, uh." He paused. "It's naked."

Souji laughed lightly. "I was waiting for you to get home, so we can decorate it together."

Finally taking his eyes from the tree, Yosuke noticed a package of garland and Christmas lights on the floor next to the table. Growing more excited by the second, he picked up the lights and unraveled it until he found the end of the string. According to the packaging, they were multicolored and had three different twinkle speeds.

He handed the end to Souji and they got to work. It was fun, working on a project like this together with his best friend and life partner... his husband. There, he said it. In his mind, anyway. They started at the top and passed the string of lights between them from opposite sides of the tree. When they were done, Yosuke didn't wait for them to string up the garland, he wanted to see the lights in action _now._

"The moment of truth!" he declared, and he plugged the lights into the wall socket.

Only a few of them turned on.

With a frown he pressed a button on the little control panel near the end of the string of lights. Now the few lights that were on were blinking furiously—apparently that had been the twinkle speed button.

"Seriously?" he complained. "That's not even half the tree. Did we get a dud set?"

"One of the lights must be dead," Souji said, "and cutting off the circuit."

Yosuke followed the string of lights from the plug to the culprit, an unlit pink one. Fortunately the set had come with extra lights just for this contingency. A few minutes later the broken light was replaced with a new one.

And when Yosuke plugged in the cord again, the tree lit up in a rainbow of lights.

"Gorgeous," he said, grinning like a child.

"Mm-hmm," Souji agreed, but he wasn't looking at the tree. When Yosuke noticed this he rolled his eyes at him for being so sappy. He always laid his affection on so thick, it was embarrassing!

They took a break after that, enjoying some hot cocoa that Souji made. Yosuke downed his mug pretty quickly. Souji was taking his time, though, enjoying the warmth of the mug around his hands.

"Come on," Yosuke said impatiently. "We gotta put the garland up next."

"Hold on," Souji said.

Souji put his half-full mug down on the tea table, under the tree. Then he walked up to Yosuke and kissed him right on the lips, a long and lingering kiss.

"Souji," Yosuke protested, blushing furiously even in the privacy of their own home. "We didn't even put any mistletoe up!"

"You had a cocoa mustache," Souji explained. He slowly trailed his fingers over Yosuke's upper lip.

"Oh," said Yosuke. Then he grinned as an idea came to him. "You have one too!" he claimed.

Souji pretended to be surprised, but didn't resist at all when Yosuke began to kiss it away. It took a while because they kept giggling at each other the whole time.

Anyway, after that, they put the gold and silver garland on the tree, careful not to cover the lights with it. When it was all done, the tree was even more beautiful than before since the lights reflected off the garland's foil. The walls and ceiling were now dotted with pinpoints of colorful lights.

"Looks amazing, partner," Yosuke said. "This was a great idea."

Souji sidled up next to him and pulled him into a side hug. "The best part? We made it together."

"Let's move it off the table, though," Yosuke said. "I don't think I can handle a whole month without using the table."

Together they carefully relocated the tree to a corner of the room. Yosuke felt better after that; there'd been something stressful about having something he wasn't used to right in the middle of the room like that. Souji told him he'd put it on the table to make it easier to decorate.

"Makes sense," Yosuke said. He stroked his chin as he surveyed their tree now. "You know, we have lights and we have garland, and it looks great, but a few ornaments would really set it off. We can pick some up the next time we're at Junes."

"Oh, actually..." Souji said, but he stopped there. When Yosuke looked at him, his eyes were focused on the empty mug of cocoa he was fidgeting with.

"What is it, partner?" Yosuke asked. It was strange to see him so hesitant.

"In my family," Souji began, slowly, "we had something like a tradition."

"Involving ornaments?"

"Yeah," Souji said. "See, every year, we'd go shopping as a family and buy just one new ornament for the tree."

He paused. Yosuke knew he didn't often talk about his family. If his rosy cheeks were anything to go by, the story he was telling was very personal to him. "Go on," Yosuke said softly.

"Umm, well," Souji said. "This was when I was a little kid, anyway. But we'd buy it together, so that it would represent the year that passed. That way, over the years, we'd collect a bunch of ornaments to put on the tree. And when we took them out to put on the tree each year, we'd remember when we bought each one. So they weren't just decorations, but memories too. If that makes sense?"

"It makes total sense," Yosuke told him, tugging him close.

"Good," Souji said, looking relieved and pleased.

"So we gotta go out and buy an ornament together?" Yosuke asked. "Is that right?"

"Well, I was thinking... We could make one, like we made the tree together. I've always wanted to do that, but my family was never much for crafts. They never really had time for it, so... buying ornaments was easier for them."

Yosuke squeezed his side in support. Souji smiled at him and hugged him back before moving from his arms. He reached under the tea table and brought out a shoebox. Yosuke eyed it curiously. He remembered Souji bringing that from home when they'd first moved to this apartment, but he'd never seen what was inside it. When he'd asked, Souji'd just brushed him off.

Souji sat down at the tea table, and Yosuke took his place opposite him. He tried to hide his eagerness as Souji opened the box, but probably failed.

Inside was an assortment of puzzling odds and ends. A spiral brooch. An old, faded Junes receipt. A signed picture of Rise. A bookmark with a clover pressed into it. A fountain pen. Someone's school report card—not Souji's, for whatever reason.

Yosuke picked up a pink strap with a bunny design on it. "This looks like something Kanji would make."

"Because it is," Souji replied. "He made that for me, when I was in Inaba. All of these items are from Inaba."

"Even this nurse's ID badge...?"

Souji just waved him off. Out of the many items, he picked up a bandage and held it up. "This is the one that's important to both of us."

"Uh..." Yosuke said. "Is it?"

"You don't remember?" Souji sounded surprised. "It represents the final rank of our social link."

"What the heck is a social link...?" Yosuke frowned, and then blinked as it dawned on him. "Wait, do you mean when Jiraiya became Susano-o? Yeah, I remember that! We had that fight on the river bank. And then I gave you that bandage."

Souji was smiling now. "That's right."

Yosuke began to laugh. "Dude, you were supposed to _use_ that bandage. That's why I gave it to you. Man, you keep the weirdest things as souvenirs. That's what all these things are, aren't they?"

"Yeah," Souji admitted. "You could call them that."

"So, let me get this right: you want to make an ornament out of that bandage?"

"That was the idea, yeah."

Yosuke took the bandage from him and turned it over in his hands. Souji hadn't used it, not on a wound, but it was worn around the edges, like he'd handled it a lot anyway. It must have meant a lot to him.

As an ornament, though, it'd be plain on its own. But maybe... Yosuke surveyed the items on hand, thinking it over. Souji wanted it to represent the year that passed. Well, lots of things had happened this year, but the most important was that Yosuke had been brave enough to confess to Souji that he liked him—and lucky enough to be liked in return.

He picked up the bunny strap. After turning it over in his hands for a moment, he removed the film from the bandage and carefully wrapped it around the strap, right under the bunny's head.

"How's that?" Yosuke asked, holding it up in front of his partner.

Souji was frowning. "I didn't really mean to use the other items..."

"Hear me out," Yosuke said. "Remember when I confessed to you?"

"I'll never forget," Souji said. "It was raining, and we just left Aiya, and..."

"Then I just rambled on until I finally said it... Well, I wasn't going to say it at all, you know. But it was Kanji who told me to just get over myself and tell you how I feel."

"Kanji, huh? Not Chie?"

"Kanji can be oblivious, but I guess I was so obvious that even he saw it... But anyway, even if it had been Chie instead, I'm not making an ornament out of meat gum."

Souji was smiling at him. The same soft smile he'd worn when Yosuke had confessed to him all those months ago.

"S-so, we should remember Kanji too," Yosuke said. "Besides, the strap makes it easier to hang on the tree!"

He practically leaped to his feet to place it on the tree. He put it right near the top, taking care to ensure the cute bunny face was visible. Souji took his place at his side and they surveyed the effect together.

"Our first ornament on our first Christmas tree," Yosuke said.

"Our first Christmas memory," Souji said.

"We're going to make so many more," Yosuke told him. "That's a promise."

Souji kissed him on the cheek. "I love you," he said.

"Love you too," Yosuke said, wrapping his arms around him and holding him close. "And you know what the best thing is?"

"What is is?" Souji murmured.

"I don't need mistletoe to kiss you."

Souji smiled, and Yosuke moved in for a long, sweet kiss.

"Don't need cocoa as an excuse, either," Souji murmured against his mouth when they drew apart.

"Nope," Yosuke said. "Or even—What the heck!" He noticed right then that Souji was dangling something over their heads, had been the whole time they'd been kissing. Mistletoe. "Where did you even get that?"

"Merry Christmas," Souji said fondly. "Now shut up and kiss me some more."


End file.
